EXCLUSIVE: Daughter of Oakland woman hit by stray bullets while at home makes plea for change
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Shortly after Uber driver Patrick Fung was gunned down outside his partner's home near Little Saigon, and beloved dentist Lili Xu was killed while visiting a massage therapist in Oakland's Little Saigon, a woman was shot three times while sleeping. Her daughter, frustrated by the violence, is now ready to share her story and make a plea for change.
Roxana, who requested we not use her last name, calls her mom "Superwoman" for so many reasons. She was an immigrant, fleeing the war in Vietnam for a better life, who made a home in Little Saigon and gave birth to five children. But she had no idea what living in Oakland would be like.
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"She's been robbed many times, she's been punched, they grabbed a necklace on her in the streets," said Roxana with tears in her eyes. "She's gone through all of that, but this is the scariest moment of her life, because she almost died."
On the morning of Aug. 17, just days before her 61st birthday, Roxana's mom was sleeping alongside her husband in their Little Saigon home when gunshots rang out. She woke up and was hit. A neighboring house still bears a number of bullet holes, as evidence of the violence from that day.
"She had that gut instinct of you have to go or else your life is going to be in danger, that she knew she knew," said Roxana, who did not want her face shown on camera, out of fears of retaliation. "She knew, which is why she said, 'We have to go. We have to go now.' She was so scared."
Photos illustrate the three rounds that went into her back and torso.
"She still has all the bullet fragments inside her," Roxana said. "It's embedded deep inside. We can't do anything about it. She's in so much pain. We just want her to get better."
Roxana is choosing to finally share her family's story because the pain has become too much to bear.
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"They don't know this is our lives we're talking about," she said. "It's more than hell; it's a living nightmare. I can't sleep at night. It's an emotional rollercoaster every single day. I'm scared for my mom's safety, I'm scared for her health, and I'm scared she's going to leave this world."
She is also overwhelmed by the medical bills and her own back pain that was exacerbated by the stress of caring for her family. Roxana is now on crutches and in extreme physical pain herself. She's not sure what the answer to the violence is but feels stuck.
"We all grew up here," she said. "We all lived here and my mom doesn't want to leave. This is all she knows. She loves Oakland.
She makes this plea for change and hopes Oakland police will provide her family with an update soon.
A link to Roxana's GoFundMe for her mom and family can be found here.
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